Q: Since you recommend planting tomatoes around Mother’s Day, does the same hold true for eggplant and peppers?
A: Although they’re in the same plant family as tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are heat lovers and resent cold soil. It’s best to wait until June 1 to set them out into the garden. Both of these plants need to go in the hottest, sunniest area possible in order to ripen the fruit.
Pick one of the smaller, earlier ripening varieties of eggplant and work a half-cup of organic tomato food into the planting hole under each plant.
Peppers, on the other hand, need to get off to a faster start. Work a ½ cup of a nitrogen-rich fertilizer such as fish or blood meal in the planting hole and wait until the plant begins to flower and then side dress with a half-cup of tomato food around each plant.
Provide a bit of extra warmth on cold nights by covering both eggplant and peppers with row-crop cover (a spun polyesterlike material available at nurseries) but remember to remove it once temperatures get into the 80s to keep from cooking your plants.
Harvest your eggplants when the skin is smooth and shiny, but before they turn soft. Peppers are ready to harvest when they turn their ripe color. Peppers usually won’t ripen if we don’t get a hot summer. Unripe peppers are edible, but sweet varieties won’t be as flavorful, and the hot ones just won’t rate as high on the “ahooa” meter as they would if they’re fully ripe!
Q: What is a plant with big leaves to add a tropical look in my shade garden?
A: You want the impressive Hosta ‘Empress Wu.’ Named for the only female emperor to rule china, this recently introduced hybrid forms a massive clump at least 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide.
The thickly textured, slug-resistant leaves measure over 18 inches across and emerge with a blue cast in spring, morphing to greenish gray in summer. The pale reddish violet flowers that appear midsummer are long lasting for a Hosta and are a magnet for hummingbirds.
For the fastest growth, plant ‘Empress WU’ in morning sun or open shade, in well-drained soil amended with plenty of compost. Fertilize regularly with organic-plant food, and keep the soil evenly moist, but not soggy.
The only problem with this incredible Hosta is that you’ll need patience to see it at its biggest and best. Even with plenty of food and water, this hulk will take about five years to achieve her empress status as the big honker Hosta in your garden
Q: My daffodils have always bloomed in past years. This year, they produced lots of healthy leaves but they didn’t bloom. How can I encourage them to flower again next spring?
A: A number of things can cause established spring bulbs to stop blooming. Often the area where the bulbs are planted becomes too shady and you must move the bulbs to a sunnier location for good flower production.
Another common reason is lack of nutrition. Every spring, scratch in generous helpings of organic-bulb food to give your bulbs a big energy boost.
The other reason bulbs stop producing flowers is because they are overcrowded. If the clump has been there for a long time, and the leaves look crowded, dig the bulbs as soon as the leaves turn yellow but are still visible in late spring. Brush off the soil and allow the bulbs to dry in a well-ventilated area. Break off offsets, and store the bulbs in a mesh bag in an unheated garage.
When you replant them in fall, work a half-handful of bone meal and the recommended amount of organic-bulb food into a large planting hole before planting the bulbs about 6 inches apart. Only the large bulbs will bloom next season, so plant the smaller ones in a sunny location in a back area to allow them to build strength for a year before moving them to a highly visual location where they should put on a spectacular show the following spring.
Ciscoe Morris: ciscoe@ciscoe.com; “Gardening with Ciscoe” airs at 10 a.m. Saturdays on KING5.
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